Quiet Life II: Harvest Time
by Maeve Riannon
Summary: Second part of the AU where Tomoe survives. THIRD CHAPTER UP: A month later, Tomoe is at last going to start her lessons. But, what can a poor forgotten girl do meanwhile, alone with a brooding father?
1. Nightly Watch

**Note: **This is, actually, the second part of the first story in the Quiet Life AU series. It makes a lot more sense if read after the first, but either way here´s a short summary of the situation. Tomoe did not die. After the Bakumatsu, she and Kenshin went to live in retirement in a village of the mountains and had a child.

Warning: This is not a heroical story. **Maybe** the sequel will be, but that will come later. In fact, it´s a rather boring thing if you´re looking for adventures…sorry, sometimes I´m too introspective for my own good. (And no, I´m not proud of it most of the times)

Second warning: You will notice I´m following the stereotype of the seasons to publish the stories, but upside-down. They will be four, and they will end in Spring. This one has two chapters.

And, finally, thanks to Margit for beta and to all who reviewed. It´s stereotypical too, I know, but you made me happy. 

**Quiet Life II: Harvest Time (1873)**

**I: Nightly Watch**

Alas, it was cold again, so soon. She would never grow accustomed to the weather, Tomoe thought as she put her carefully folded robe aside, shivering as she had to face the night breeze with her thin yukata alone. Her eyes, half consciously, half unconsciously, turned once more towards the window next to her, through which some distant noises of music and laughter that came and went with the wind could sometimes reach her ears.

"Mother, I´m cold!"

Supressing a sigh, and leaving her sandals alongside of her other garments, she walked towards her futon, and had to gasp as her feet made contact with the floor with only her tabi to protect them. Miyoko was curled on one of the sides, like a little ball covered with blankets.

"This bed is too big for you, little one," the mother smiled as she blew the candle off and got inside the bed next to her daughter. The first thing she felt was the difference of temperature to the still unwarmed bedcloth, but, when the girl snuggled closed to her to find warmth, she felt it coming in waves to herself too. Without losing any time, she embraced her closely, and let her head rest under her right arm. "Better?'"

"Much, much better!" Miyoko nodded fervently. "Mother...why isn´t it summer all the year? I hate the cold!"

Tomoe smiled again.

"In fact, do you know something? That´s a question I ask myself very often as well."

"Really? And do you think we could make it summer all the year if you knew the reason why it isn´t?"

 "Uh? Well… I suppose…"

Profoundly impressed at her daughter´s reasoning, Tomoe stopped in mid-sentence, unable to find a way to end the answer. It was not the first time that this happened; sometimes, she could not help but wonder who had taught a five-year-old child to think this way. True, she remembered some similar things in Enishi… and if she only could remember about herself…

_And Kenshin must really have been a bright child, too, so our child would be some kind of an explosive mix._ she mused proudly to herself. _What a pity that he had to use all his talents for swordsmanship until now…_

She had already taken him under her care, of course. As something to start with, she had made it her first goal to teach him to write correctly, for months now. Though he never had much spare time, she lent him her help in his struggles to improve his calligraphy and learn all those signs he didn´t know whenever he had, and if there was something she had grown to be sure of during those sessions, it was that if he didn´t have so many other things to do he would already write like her or better. In fact, she thought ruefully, that would probably be an accurate description of her husband´s life. He had always had _way _too many things to do, and they had most unfortunately prevented him from living. That had roused her pity since the first months they had lived together, maybe being the first thing that really did, and even at the present moment, in that very night, she sincerely hoped that he was having fun with the villagers at the harvest feast down there…

"Will Father return soon?" Miyoko resumed her assaults.

"Uh? Not until you´re asleep, I believe."

"Then…" The expectation and sudden excitement was easily perceivable for her mother, mainly in the slight shift of position of the tiny body. "Then I can sleep here!"

Though not an open or demonstrative person, even Tomoe had to laugh softly at this.

"Yes, you can. But only tonight," she warned. She knew only too well that, if she had left it in the air, Miyoko would have spent all the time feigning she was asleep, which would have prevented her from falling asleep in truth. Once she was snoring placidly, it would be easy to tuck her into her own bed.

"Father can sleep in my bed when he returns," the girl conceded in a show of magnanimity. "After all, he will return drunk and he will be useless, won´t he?"

"What??" This time, Tomoe´s puzzlement amply surpassed the mask in her face. Even though her frown was a visual gesture, and therefore lost in the darkness of the room, Miyoko could feel her body tensing up. "Where in the world did you… hear that?"

"Yumiko-san said it," the girl explained, innocently surprised at the effect her words had had on her mother. "She said that they all return drunk and useless for a week."

For a while, Tomoe could do little else than swallow and breath, several times. Sure, in that village the people were good-natured, but their manners… And in front of children!

"Listen now, Himura Miyoko," she said at last, in the most serious voice she could muster. Of course, the real truth was that the thing had _some _comic attached to it, but she wasn´t going to look amused now. "If Yumiko-san utters such a remark, do not gainsay her. She probably has her reasons, and you should respect her. But as for you, don´t say such things about your father again!"

"Is it bad?" the girl muttered, sounding a bit downcast. Her tone faltered for a second. "I... I promise I did not know…"

"Of course you didn´t know, Miyoko-chan," Tomoe reassured her, caressing her dark hair. "That´s why I´m here to tell you. And still…" The long overdue chuckle had to come at last, as a fitting end for the seconds of tension. "You could have guessed that to be useless for a week would be bad!"

Miyoko´s brow furrowed.

"But, Mother… will he?" 

"Of course not!"

"Oh…" the girl nodded, accepting the answer with a sigh of relief. "I´m glad. But why did she say it then?"

Such an _inquisitive _little girl…

"I told you that little girls did not ask many questions," Tomoe reminded her, matter-of-factly. Miyoko, however, was not to be so easily deterred.

"But it´s only the second!"

Tomoe gave a long, _very _long annoyed sigh.

 "Miyoko-chan…," she started after a while, when she had put her ideas in order. Sometimes, she had to confess it, that girl was too much even for her. "She said it because this may be true for other people. When someone drinks too much sake, he feels like you when you´re playing and you begin to spin around yourself. 

"He falls down, too?" 

"Yes." Tomoe said. "Exactly. And he stays like that for hours. The next day, he probably feels very ill, and with a headache."

"Ah." Miyoko nodded again, enlightened. Then, as if she didn´t have anymore to ask from life, she turned back towards the opposite side, and curled herself once more in thoughtful silence … that is, until curiosity got once more the better of her.

"And why do they do it if it´s so awful? Did you get drunk sometime, Mother?"

"Third and fourth, Himura Miyoko!" At that moment, Tomoe was terribly glad of the darkness that hid the fact that she was red to the tip of her ears. "And besides, you should be already asleep."

"You got," the girl stated.

"Shut up."

"If you tell me about it, I promise I won´t tell anybody," she tried to bribe her mother. "You know how good I am keeping secrets. I never told anybody about…."

"Oh, all right, all right, enough already!" Tomoe surrendered. The woman of the expressionless face and the enigmatic past, the spy who had lived among her enemies for long without giving them the slightest clue of her intentions; even the elusive figure whose intentions were a mystery and whose silence was unreadable… all this tended more than often to be completely trampled under Miyoko´s small feet without the slightest difficulty. "If you stay quiet and still until you fall asleep, without asking even _one_ more question, I´ll tell you a tale about the day when I went with your grandfather and your uncle Enishi to the wedding of your grandaunt Kaede…"

*     *     *     *     *

Hours later, with the little girl´s sleeping body warmly pressed against her, and the sounds of the feast still coming in waves from the distance, Tomoe was wide awake and lost in her musings. The tale, as in every occasion that her curious daughter managed somehow to wring information about her past from her, had made her remember some things that she shouldn´t have, and now she felt the unavoidable melancholy. 

She had tried before, tried so hard to forget about all this. But, to what use? The memories would always be there, of her kind father as well as of the dear brother she had raised, and of course of the man who had died in Kyoto, and their presence would always add a touch of bitterness to her choice. Just as when Kenshin had to leave and free himself from the oppression and the longing by practicing his moves, while at the same time hating himself for it, sometimes a part of her still yielded to Miyoko´s requests in spite of her promise, because she was willing to unburden herself and be heard by someone. Another part of her, though, in the meantime and afterwards, felt guilty for doing this _again_, as well as for not having the decency of being wholly happy after all Fate had given back to her. Her family was well, wasn´t it? Kiyosato had forgiven her. _Kenshin _had forgiven her.

Why did an innocent party where she ended up tipsier than she should have got tear at her heart even more deeply than the remembrances of Kiyosato´s death?

_I hope they have all forgiven me,._ she thought, for the hundredth time._ Or at least that they will one day…And I´d wish…I´d wish…_

_…That she could meet them…_

Pulling herself back in time, the woman smothered her thoughts at once and shook her head with sadness. Why project any more unfulfilled wishes on her daughter? Miyoko had been a great comfort, and she had been able to keep her mother's secrets admirably, but she had been too young to understand many of the things Tomoe felt. She could still remember that time when the girl had asked her mother why she couldn´t tell those tales to her father… and the face she had made when she had been told that Tomoe had had to choose between the people in her tales and him, and that if he knew that she missed them he would feel sad and guilty.

"But why can´t we live with them all?" the girl had pouted, no doubt considering her very stupid for not even thinking about that. Tomoe had swallowed hard, and after some awkward moments decided to turn to generalization for help.

"If you married someone who didn´t live in this village, you´d have to leave us, too," she had explained.

"I will _never _marry someone who doesn´t live in this village," had been Miyoko´s answer, so terminal and heartfelt that her mother hadn´t been able to keep down her sudden urge to smile.

"You sound very sure," she had teased her. "Already in love with someone?"

To her surprise, Miyoko´s glance had contained a tinge of guilt when she had shook her head negatively.

"Not yet. But I promise I will, soon!"

It had taken long to make Miyoko understand that she did not have the _duty _to fall in love with someone in the village, at least not yet, and that her mother's remarks about taking it easy and not think about those things did not mean that she did not care whether her daughter would have to leave or not. After that, Tomoe had felt profoundly guilty for having burdened her innocent child with her secrets and problems, and had sworn to herself that she would never, ever, tell her anything anymore until she was a woman. And overall she had been pretty constant in the fulfilment of her oath… if she excepted certain occasions, when a little harmless tale escaped her mouth. She had to get that into her head: Miyoko was her own person and _not_ a part of herself.

_Hadn´t she already committed that mistake once?_

_Shut up, Tomoe_, she reprimanded herself yet another time, now shaking her head even with more violence than the others. There was no use whining about that anymore. She wasn´t that weak, was she? She didn´t have to share those things with anyone. Kami-sama knew she was able to keep her feelings to herself, and she even had Kenshin beside her, who comforted her whenever she was sad even if he didn´t know – _couldn´t _know- why. She had to comfort him, too.

She loved _him_, now.

"A better spouse than what I was once, and a better mother, too," she muttered to herself in an almost inaudible voice. "That´s what I told myself I would be."__

Maybe slightly disturbed by her abrupt shifting of position, the girl lying besides her gave a soft whimper, and rolled over again to bury her face under Tomoe´s breast. Her mother lifted her arms to allow her freedom, and when she saw that she was sleeping again she let them fall softly on top of her once more. Quietly, as to avoid waking her up, she bent over her and kissed her forehead.

_One day,_ she thought, _you will forgive me while having the power to deny me forgiveness._

*     *     *     *     *

In line with those small ironies life was normally full of, it was just when Tomoe had at last indulged into her first nap when the long awaited noise came from the shoji, and made her eyes snap wide open.

"Welcome back," she whispered tentatively, afraid to wake up her daughter. Kenshin did not answer, but covered up the distance that separated them with no hesitation and sat down on the side of the futon. Even after all those years, Tomoe could not cease feeling creepy by how his body was perfectly trained to keep moving as if he was sober whenever he drank. As if it wasn´t a thing of his brain anymore.__

"I´m going to put Miyoko to her bed," she intervened before he could open his mouth. As she was already gathering herself to get up, however, he put his hand on her shoulder, and motioned her to stay.

"Do not wake her up. I have enough space for myself," he muttered, just a tiny bit dizzily. Tomoe nodded, surprised, and laid back to wait while he fumbled with his kimono and then with his yukata.

"Did you have fun?", she asked when he was at last done, helping to arrange the covers on top of him. He rolled towards her, and surprised her with a sudden passionate kiss.

_That´s the main effect alcohol has over him, then?, _she thought, making some effort to prevent her face from showing any evidence of the instinctive ladylike shock that a part of herself felt at the action. _He´s just like another normal man, now…_

 "I missed you." 

"Really?" With great care, she shoved Miyoko a bit away from her, and smiled. "Well, your girl is still too young to go partying, and I´m not going to let her stay at home alone, yet. Maybe in some years... But, tell me about it, you must have had fun to return that late. Other years, you were back here in  a couple of hours."

"I had to bring Hachiro-san to his house," he explained, caressing her face and kissing it now and then. Tomoe could smell the sake in his breath, but surprisingly enough she did not dislike it as much as she should. How could she, when he looked so unburdened, so easy-going? "He couldn´t see the ground under his feet anymore."

"Drunk and useless for a week," his wife paraphrased in amusement. Kenshin chuckled mischievously.

"Or two!"

"And what about you?" Tomoe continued, fingering a strand of red hair with her free hand. "Useless for a night, at least?"

Slowly, Kenshin got to his knees, and from that position he responded by kissing her fiercely once more. For a moment, and seeing the light in his eyes, she even thought he would yield to her provocation, and cursed herself for having consented on Miyoko sleeping there. It would be terrible, if they woke her up in the worst possible moment…

However, it was Kenshin himself who seemed to realize soon enough, as soon as he had to put one of his hands next to the place where his daughter´s face lay. Somewhat ashamed, as if he had just realized his alcohol-induced rashness, he tore himself away and started to breathe heavily.

"I´m…I´m not exactly well," he groaned, as a confession. "Be… better leave it for other moment."

"Oh, do not worry," she reassured him, letting sympathy smother and overrule her disappointment as much as it was possible. As soon as she embraced his lean frame with one of her arms, he snuggled close to her as if in search of warmth, in a similar position as the one that Miyoko had adopted a while ago. This actually brought a smile to Tomoe's lips, and she intensified both embraces, feeling the last yearnings of her body for the unsatisfied desire subside in an aftermath of quiet tenderness for her two children. "We have a lot of things to do tomorrow."

(to be continued)


	2. Family Things

**Note: **Second part at last. Thanks to my reviewers and encouragers. ^_^ And to Margit and Aaerdan for beta, editing, etc, etc. 

Second note: I KNOW that Kenshin can write. But, given that he didn´t have much time to learn, and that in the manga they laugh a lot at his writing, I assume his notions were.far from perfect.

**Quiet Life II: Harvest Time**

**II: Family Things.**

The next day was one of the very rare occasions where not only Tomoe, but also Kenshin overslept. It had to be Miyoko´s insistent tugging on her arm what woke her mother up on that sunny morning, and, as soon as she succeeded locating herself, she could not suppress a sigh of consternation. 

"It´s late." Miyoko´s voice sounded with a trace of petulant recrimination. The girl was sitting cross-legged on the floor, still in her sleeping yukata, and her violet eyes were adamantly fixed on her. "The sun is high in the sky, I went outside to see it."

"I returned late last night, and your mother waited for me," Kenshin explained, getting up beside his wife and suppressing a gasp when his body did not react _quite _as it should. As Tomoe thought then, when she stole a glance from him, last night had taken a bit of its toll on him. He didn´t look bad, yet he didn´t look well either, and he certainly _was _somewhat pale and swollen. Maybe that could mean that he was starting to get somewhat out of practice, since the Kenshin of the Bakumatsu, she knew it from her own experience, had been as deadly as ever even after going out to drink.

Or, then again, she rectified, maybe it was just that what he had drunk had been _much _more now than back then, allowing himself to somewhat loosen his grip on his precious self-control as he saw himself surrounded by happy, peaceful and simple villagers. If it had been like this, she thought, she would be very glad for him, for it would have been an achievement definitely worth the hangover.

"Well." she said, getting up with some effort and reaching for her shawl. "Let´s go, Miyoko-chan, your father has to change."

"Yes, Mother," the girl replied meekly. As both walked towards the kitchen, though, the cunning little imp lost no time before giving Tomoe one of those dreaded inquisitive glances again. 

"What is it?" her mother asked her in a tone that, though inexpressive, gave some indices of annoyance.

"Father is. weird this morning." Miyoko whispered back, a careful glance over her shoulders to be sure that she was not heard. "Did he. did he really do the same that you did in grandaunt Kaede-san´s wedding?"

Once more, Tomoe could not help getting very red. Unfortunately enough for her, now there was no darkness to hide it from her daughter´s eyes, and she felt more than left in evidence.

"What did I tell you yesterday, Miyoko? He´s fine, you´ll see. As for _that_ incident, it happened long ago and it´s nothing worth remembering, repeating, or being proud about!"

"So it´s a bad thing what Father and you did?" Miyoko asked incredulously, as if the very notion was impossible. This time, Tomoe could not suppress a sigh, thinking on all the things about them that the girl didn´t know.

"I should not have got drunk in my aunt´s wedding. It was bad what I did, and I was sorry afterwards," she said. "But your father´s case was different. He was in a feast where everybody was meant to be drunk, and he didn´t get drunk anyway."

"Yomo-san had already warned me of the intention of half the village of getting me drunk,  once and for all," a voice corroborated her as Kenshin emerged dressed from behind the screen. Tomoe felt her heart skip a beat, realizing that if he had had time to hear that, he would probably have heard an allusion to her own shameful confession, too. Though, well, it was not as if he hadn´t seen her drunk before. "And yet, I could not elude all contests."

"Oh. I see you´re already dressed," she noticed a bit lamely. "I´m. well, I´m  going to prepare breakfast." she added, going away before anything else was said.

"Fine. And, good morning, Miyoko-chan," Kenshin greeted his daughter, turning towards her. Miyoko answered his greeting, though the innocently curious way in which she kept staring at her father would have been labelled by her mother as "decidedly rude" if she had been there at the moment. Kenshin just smiled, and patted her head.

"After all the premature stimulation you´re receiving, I only hope that you can hold your sake better than your mother," he muttered absentmindedly, walking past her towards the other side of the house.

*     *     *     *     *

Just after they finished breakfast, the family went outside the house to continue their own harvest of daikon. The air was cold, but, as Tomoe could notice with relief, there were no clouds in the sky. It had rained quite a deal in the last week, keeping them from their task, and they couldn´t delay its completion anymore_. _

"Do you think we will finish them today?" she asked, mentally sighing as she went on her knees and felt the humid earth on them. Her clean, prim mind had got pretty much used to it meanwhile, but to be _wholly _used one day was quite another matter.

"We´ll try," Kenshin answered with a smile. He was already focused on his task, and, Tomoe thought ruefully, nothing, hangovers, headaches, cold, wind, rain, darkness or humid earth on his kimono would deter him from it. If she could only have half of his strength and dedication.

"See, Mother! I got one, too!" Miyoko cried at that moment, showing her rounded trophy in triumph. Her cheeks glowed red, and her breath came out heavy from the effort of pulling the thing out from the earth.

"Oh, dear, it´s big!" Kenshin´s eyes widened exaggeratedly. "Did you really dig it out alone?"

Miyoko giggled, and ran towards her father to show him the marks on her hands. Kenshin stared at them pensive for some seconds, though soon snapped out of it, and smiled.

"Wrap your hands in this," he told her quietly, handing her a piece of cloth he had been using to keep his long hair away from his face. "You´re doing very well, Miyoko-chan."

The girl beamed at the praise.

"For you," she said, and left the daikon on his lap. "I will have lots more soon."

"What you should really do is _eat_ them once they´re cooked," Tomoe intervened then, if just to hide a feeling of warmth that had assaulted her. Immediately after, though, she wondered if it hadn´t rather sounded as if she was jealous.

 "I´ll give the next to you, Mother," Miyoko promised her with a conciliating smile.

*     *     *     *     *

At mid-morning, Tomoe went inside to start preparing their food, and Miyoko, as always, took to running from one parent to another. In the middle of the cutting of vegetables, the woman could hear someone´s voice talking with her husband outside, and paused in his task for a moment to peer through one of the windows. 

There was a man there, the wandering seller as she could guess by looking closer. She saw Miyoko, too, preparing to run inside to tell her about the news, but, surprisingly enough, Kenshin stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder.

_Oh, dear_, she thought. _Conspiring again?_

Still, if Tomoe had learned something for sure, it was that curiosity in a woman of her age was _not _proper. Shaking her head, she left her vantage point and continued cutting vegetables as if nothing had happened, until Kenshin and Miyoko came in by themselves minutes later with the baskets.

"It smells good already." her husband commented appreciatively. Tomoe dismissed it with a smile of regret.

"It needs much more time to even start looking edible. Sorry."

"We´ve collected more daikon than ever this morning, thanks to Miyoko-chan´s help,"  Kenshin continued, changing of subject. His wife felt then a distinct sensation about him, as if he had the intention of telling her something but could not do it yet. "Miyoko-chan, go fetch the last basket and bring it inside." 

As soon as the girl ran off, Tomoe turned back to her husband with a slightly inquisitive glance. He gave a sigh, and fixed his eyes on hers.

"I couldn´t tell you before," he started with some awkwardness. "but I´m sorry for last night. I. I was in control, but not _wholly _so... it was a strange sensation."

Oh, so it was that. The woman couldn´t help but smile.

"You were as free as I'd wish you to be. A bit more smelly than what I'd wish you to be, though. if you will excuse me for the remark." 

Kenshin shook his head, turning back from her to sit in front of the table. Tomoe could not see it, but she assumed he was _still _awkward in spite of her encouraging comment.

"I must confess I enjoyed myself," he muttered at last. "That I was not ashamed of having lost part of my control. It was. the first time in my life I felt like this."

Tomoe arched her eyebrow.

"Are you apologizing for enjoying yourself?"

"With such lack of self-discipline how can I expect to atone?"

Both their gazes locked in that moment, and for some time both held them in silence. Finally, Tomoe turned back, and wiped her hands in a dirty piece of cloth.

"Like you yourself taught me. You showed me that in spite of what I had done to you, you had no interest in seeing me in pain. That to have me amending my wrongs towards you with guilt and sadness in my eyes wouldn´t make you nearly as happy as my smile. Are you any different from me?"

"Yes," Kenshin said, losing no time to take the cue." Of course I _am _different from you. Your case was a personal matter, and it was solved between two people who had the courage to listen to each other and defy the rest. But I hurt many people, and therefore I must help many people."

"And make many people happy?" Tomoe inquired. A bit puzzled, Kenshin seemed to think for a moment, though he ended by nodding in admittance.

"I suppose so. But what.?"

"The villagers," she explained. "Forgive me, but I´m sure that to see you among them, sharing their merriment for once, was a pleasant surprise that brought laughter to many of them. Those things matter, too. And when you came here happy, do you know what? It mattered to me as well."

Kenshin did not answer for a while, though to Tomoe it was obvious that he was pondering what she had just said. Encouraged, she decided to continue.

"When I felt lost and scarred because of .," here, her hesitation was evident, "because of the war, you smiled to me, and you gave me my life back. Even today, you give me warmth because you´re able to smile more than what I do. Please. smile more often, not only to us, but also with us! I´m sure that this _must _help people more than to fight with the sword."

Almost ashamed of the feelings she had unintentionally put in her words, Tomoe fell silent again, as Kenshin dusted his kimono and got up in slow movements. When he opened his mouth, she could check that his voice came out hoarse, but in his eyes there was a different light from before. almost as if he was sad.

"I won´t _ever_ be able to give you the smile that you´re seeking and that you deserve, Tomoe," he said, with sincere regret. She swallowed hard, looking down. "But if I was close yesterday night, I rejoice, and I even promise I´ll cease feeling ashamed of it. By the way. where did Miyoko go?"

"Oh. uh? She has just dropped the basket and now the daikon are rolling down the slope, or so it seems from here," Tomoe answered as she checked on her daughter through the window. "And, of course, now she´ll say that it wasn´t her fault. Excuse me. I´m going to save the fruits and to give her an earful."

"No. You´re busy now," he stopped her before she could even clean her hands again. Without giving her the chance to say anything else, he slid the shoji behind his back, and in front of Tomoe´s pensive face. 

The woman stayed there for some moments, in silence. Only when she could see her husband´s figure running towards the daikon she seemed to snap away from her musings, but there was still a lingering worry in her face as she turned back towards her unfinished cutting task.

_One day, I swear I´ll break your resistance, _she thought to herself, unknowingly paraphrasing the thought that somebody else had had long ago, in an Otsu cottage. 

*     *     *     *     *

Kenshin recovered the daikon so quickly that Tomoe even had the suspicion that he had used his Hiten Mitsurugi speed. Scarcely four or five minutes later, he was already back, the basket in his hands, and Miyoko trailing behind.

"Miyoko." she started in a serious tone. But, to her great surprise, Kenshin didn´t let her continue, and hurried immediately to get something from the back of the house.

"I fell," the girl explained in a shaky tone. Sniffling a bit, she lifted her kimono and showed her a fresh bleeding wound on her knee. Upon seeing it, Tomoe´s eyes widened, first in astonishment, and then in worry and anger.

"Don´t tell me! Running down the slope again, weren´t you? Miyoko, how many times have I told .?" Noticing that the child was just at the point of bursting into tears, though, she left the sentence unfinished, and knelt to embrace her. "Oh, dear. I want you to be careful, why can´t you? You can fall down like the daikon did. Don´t you understand?"

"Ow." Miyoko complained in a tiny voice, signalling with her head towards the wound that Tomoe was unwittingly pressing against her own body. Her tears were silent; not once, since she was a baby, had she cried noisily.

_Like her mother._

"Come here, Miyoko-chan," Kenshin intervened then, his medicine things in hand. Tomoe wiped off the girl´s tears a bit, and nudged her towards her father.

"I know this has been an accident," he began in a soft voice, while he worked and Miyoko had to do really weird things with her face to avoid screaming. "Sorry, Miyoko-chan. This has been an accident, but you can avoid accidents if you´re more careful."

"But I did not complain!" the girl argued between clenched teeth. Tomoe could not avoid rolling her eyes at this.

"I prefer you thoughtful and prudent rather than brave," Kenshin said, throwing a meaningful look in Tomoe´s direction.

"I´m sorry."Miyoko gave a wince as Kenshin finished adjusting the bandage. "I´m really sorry! I. I  promise I won´t do it again."

_Oh, yes, you will,_ her mother thought knowingly. For her, it was evident that Miyoko´s dismay would only last until the next time she was alone and had the chance of a thrilling run downwards. Still, she knew that Kenshin believed otherwise, constant and high minded as he was.

"Well," she announced, "lunch is almost ready. Sit down, please. By the way, I almost forgot. The wandering seller was here this morning, wasn´t he?"

"Uh? Oh, yes, he was! With the fuss, I had almost forgotten."

Sure that it would be useless to try discovering the hint of a secret in Kenshin´s eyes, Tomoe looked into Miyoko´s instead, and saw there some trace of a mischievous glint. Shaking her head, she turned back again to continue filling the bowls.

_I hope he doesn´t get me any white plum essence again,_ she muttered to herself with a sigh. _He wouldn´t understand that it gives me bad memories_..

"Did you cook one of the daikon I picked, Mother?" Miyoko asked in expectation. Kenshin nodded emphatically, and smiled as she flashed a triumphal grin.

_That smile._

It _was_ true, Tomoe thought then, in realization. Though there was plenty of warmness in the smile, Kenshin had been right when he had said that it was not whole, but somewhat held back by an invisible ghost of regret . Strong as he was, and eager to shield her and to protect her happiness, he was only human. 

_A human, trying to repair what he had done._

"Would you.," she started, somewhat hesitantly as the idea came unbidden to her mind. "Would you like to have writing lessons this afternoon?"

Kenshin´s eyes widened. For a moment, it almost looked as if he was going to accept, but, merely instants later, the spark was already dead. He shook his head in apology.

"I can´t, Tomoe. I have to resume the work for the community tomorrow morning, and we haven´t picked up all the daikon yet."

"I can do it alone," Tomoe argued, putting the food on the table.

"I also have to visit Hachiro-san and others, who will be ill after yesterday´s abuse. I promised his wife."

"You lucky!" Miyoko muttered with an audible sigh. Her mother, exceptionally, did not pay her attention, but lowered her eyes and joined her hands through the crevices of her fingers.

"I´m sorry. I´m. I´m just stressing you, am I not?"

"But I´ll promise to you too that I´ll get to it one day," Kenshin continued, as if he hadn´t even heard her self-accusation. "By the way, Tomoe. did you know that several women in the village have asked me to bring you to their houses to teach their children?"

"Wh. what?" Now, it was her turn to look puzzled. and _very_ so, one could say from the way in which she opened and closed her mouth for a while. "_Me_? A. and what did you say?"

"That you were busy right now, but that you would surely be delighted to drop in sooner or later," he answered with an amused expression. "You would, wouldn´t you?"

"Uh.," Tomoe still hesitated, her mind slowly processing the irony of her situation. _In which precise moment had she become the one who.? _"Well, in fact. why not? If you wish me to." 

"Oh, my.. Looks as if someone in the village is in serious trouble!" Miyoko stated, rolling her eyes. 

This time, her mother´s severe look came with at least a whole minute of delay.

(the end)


	3. A Small Life

**Note: **Sorry for the delay! I tried to lessen confusion by publishing first the +3 chapters of Quiet Life I that I´m writing, but now I know I won´t be able to give that for finished for long, I thought I might as well post this meanwhile. I hope you enjoy it!

**Disclaimer: **Miyoko´s parents are Watsuki´s. (No fair, I was the one who made her up, without birds or bees! Oh, well…)

Many thanks to Margit Ritzka.

Quiet Life II: Harvest Time 

**Chapter Three: A Small Life**

**Part I:**

"Mother… why are you nervous?"

Miyoko sighed, as she noticed the immediate stiffening of the hand that her mother had laid on her shoulder. She had taken care of everything before asking the question this time; the attitude, the tone, even the moment, but it seemed she still had got something wrong. Clenching her teeth, she braced herself for the inevitable.

"I've told you many times, Miyoko-chan. I'm _not _nervous," Tomoe stated, combing her daughter's dark hair with too much additional enthusiasm. The girl felt tears coming to her eyes.

"Ow!" she protested, when she couldn't bear the sting anymore. If there was something she had learned that day, it was that messing with a grown-up who was obviously upset was not a good idea. No, not at all. 

_But, she was so worried…_

"Uh? Oh… I'm sorry." the woman mumbled. Mere instants later the painful pulling subsided, and Tomoe went to get the materials needed to make two graceful pigtails out of the strands of hair of the superior part of her head. Miyoko crossed her arms over her chest, lost in deep thought.

_What was it that had taken her mother?_

She had some idea of what happened, this she couldn't deny. That same day, her mother would be going to Matsuo-san´s house to start teaching several children to write, as her father had said some weeks ago. But she could not get it _wholly_. Hadn't her mother been teaching her for months now? And her father… she had even been teaching her father! How could she think she wouldn't be able to teach people who knew much less than them? It made no sense.

"Come here." Tomoe knelt on the floor at some two steps from her. Miyoko obeyed slowly, watching her with concerned eyes.

"Do not worry, Mother, please," she tried once more, with the most reassuring and grown-up tone she was able to muster.

"Worry?" And oh, that she was in denial. She could fool everybody around, even her father, Miyoko thought for a moment in guilty pride… though, then again, she condescended, her father hadn't had his hair pulled, and her mother hadn't spent half an hour tying his obi. "What are you talking about? Turn your head to the side, like this, and don't move. Your father is waiting for us outside!"

But as the poor child got her hair pulled once more by accident, she suddenly decided that she had had enough.

"I... I don't want you to be upset!" she almost cried, risking a scolding by turning back brusquely and ruining Tomoe's efforts. The woman could not help but widen her eyes, and Miyoko was quick in using that opportunity to stand before her and grab her hand. She had to be seriousnow, she told herself. Nothing but serious. She _wanted _her mother back. "You write much, much, much better than them!"

Tomoe froze in place, and for a while did nothing but stare at her with an indescribable face, her limp hand held into her daughter's. Then, to the girl's deep outrage, she started to laugh.

*     *     *     *     *

"We're sorry for making you wait," the woman apologised, when they were both dressed at last and ready to go out. Miyoko's father simply nodded in silence to accept the apology, something the girl thought to be very nice of him after her mother had spent half an hour tying her obi and another half combing her hair. It wasn't much fun, waiting outside.

A soft November breeze blew over them playfully, as the three started to walk down the path that led them to the village. It was nothing like last year, when it had been so cold in November that Miyoko had not even wanted to go outside, and for that she felt very grateful. Things were decidedly going well for her now, starting with this and ending with the significant improvement of her mother's condition after the girl had achieved the remarkable feat of making her laugh. Never mind, a little and annoying voice mocked her from a corner of her head, that she hadn't tried to make her laugh in the first place…

_Oh, well,_ she thought in a rebellious fit. _What did she know?_

 "Miyoko-chan."

"Yes?" she answered promptly, lifting her head towards her mother. Instead of giving an immediate reply, though, Tomoe seemed surprised at her quickness, and shook her head after thinking for a moment.

"Never mind."

"How much time are you planning to stay?" Kenshin intervened then. "About two hours?"

"That would be fine," the woman nodded politely. "Are you going to leave me there?"

"I still have to take the last bags of rice and bring them home. I thought I could do this, and use the rest of the time to do certain things before coming back for you."

Miyoko could not help giving an exaggerated wince, and bit her lower lip. She knew her father was a very busy man, but she always wondered why he had something to do each time they had to spend time at someone's house. There was nobody ill in the village at the moment, was there?

"As you wish," her mother acquiesced without insisting. Then, as if reading her daughter's thoughts, she strengthened the grip on her hand for a second, in warning.

_I know, I know,_ the girl protested to herself. _Little girls do not ask questions, but I haven't even tried!_

A group of red mushrooms came into her view at that moment, her born curiosity naturally driving her to stop and inspect them. However, as her parents were so pressed, she was just pulled forward with enough time to send a nostalgic last glance to the bright things.

Why had everybody around her have to be so… edgy sometimes?

Somewhat pensive, the girl fixed her eyes on the hand of her mother's that was holding hers, as she had been told to do many times, and continued walking.

*     *     *     *     *

Yomo-san was polite enough when she greeted them minutes later, but even Miyoko could perceive that she was at the end of her tether. There seemed to be a boy or a girl shouting and laughing in each corner of her house, and, this was actually the worst, some of their mothers -and aunts - had come with them.

"They say they want to learn too, but right now all they have done is to finish my sake supplies," Yomo explained with her characteristic frankness. "Please, Himura-san, start to teach them whatever thing soon!"

Miyoko saw her mother waver, and then turn towards her father for a fleeting moment to ask him something in a whisper. According to her demeanour, the girl wondered whether she was asking him for help, but apparently it was no such thing, since both stayed in the same place without budging. Some moments later, Tomoe had even gathered enough courage to face Yomo-san again.

"My most sincere thanks for allowing us to use your house, Yomo-san," she said. "If you don't mind, please ask them to get ready."

As they entered the chaotic space, Miyoko grabbed her mother's kimono instinctively. She wasn't used to so many people, and she could bet that her mother wasn't either. Maybe that was why she had behaved so strange…

As if  driven by a resort, Tomoe turned towards her. 

"Miyoko-chan…" she started. Yomo's voice was yelling to the kids in the kitchen, and the noise was so deafening that she had to do a great effort to raise her voice enough. "Miyoko-chan, do you want to go home?"

"What?" The girl was astonished. "Home? Why?"

"Because you…" The woman swallowed hard, getting on her knees to whisper in her ear. "Because I'll tell you a secret: you know much more than all those people, and there is nothing you can learn here."

Miyoko had to suppress the urge to roll her eyes at that statement. Did her mother think she was stupid or what?

"I know," she explained, patiently. "But I come to help you, right?"

Tomoe gave a deep sigh, and slumped her shoulders. For some terrible moments, the little girl even had the suspicion that she had said something very wrong without noticing in time, though as much as she thought about it she couldn't imagine what or why.

"Yomo-san says that she has gathered everybody in the kitchen, and that you may start now." Kenshin interrupted them, coming in with two heavy bags of rice. "She says that one of the ladies made a cake for us to thank you, but I don't have hands to carry it home now. When we leave…"

"No problem;" Miyoko´s mother cut him in mid-sentence, somewhat abruptly. "Miyoko-chan can go with you and carry it home."

"But…" The girl furrowed her brow. There was something not quite normal in the whole situation, but she couldn't put her finger in the exact place. Why did her mother all of a sudden not want her to…?

"Well, I'm going to fetch the cake;" her father said, turning his back on them and leaving with a shrug of his shoulders. As soon as they were alone, the first words that came to Miyoko's lips were the ones that clearly and accurately summarised her whole dilemma.

"Why are you angry with me?"

Tomoe´s face showed plain surprise. Before Miyoko could tell she shook her head with vehemence, and put her hand on her shoulder, since she didn't give her hugs in public places.

"I'm not angry with you, little one." Carefully, she studied the horizon in search of any potential presence that could hear her words. "Do you want me to tell you another secret?"

Of course, the girl nodded in eagerness, in the hope that this one would clarify her situation better than the first.

"I did not know that those ladies would want to be taught, too," her mother whispered. "I _can't_ teach you together with them. You already know some things, but they don't. They would feel insulted because they would think that a little girl is better than them, and we don't want that, do we?"

Miyoko closed her eyes, and for some intense seconds thought hard about that. She would have loved to best the village children, who were always besting her in other things the few times she had played with them, and mocking her for it. She would have liked so much to get retribution for the jeers she had got when she had been unable to climb that tree…! But, she thought, her mother was right... somehow, the prospect of making their loud speaking and brusque  mothers angry with her did not elicit anything except a twist in her stomach.

"But… you would protect me, wouldn't you?" she asked, staring at her mother with hopeful eyes. Tomoe simply smiled and gave her a pat on the head, just in time before Kenshin came back with Yomo… and as always when she got even minimally fondled, Miyoko was left without her answer. Still, the little girl had to confess to herself, the wish to stay was not so great now as it had been before. Of course her mother would protect her no matter what, but what if what she wanted was that everybody got along?

What a stupid people, by the way, feeling bested by a girl.

"Oh, but Himura-san!" Yomo was protesting. "You don't have to send your daughter away with the cake, there's plenty of time to bring it to your house later!"

Miyoko looked aside, trying to act, like her mother said often, "as if she didn't exist". Though she had never understood too well what was this supposed to mean, since she couldn't cease existing even wishing it very hard, it involved looking aside and also staying silent, so that was what she did. She had the feeling that everything she could say now would fall into the "out of place" category.

"She has to help her father with certain things;" Tomoe explained politely. In that moment, to her evident relief, Yomo´ eldest daughter appeared flustered, telling her mother that her grandmother was getting impatient with the noise in the kitchen and wanted everybody thrown out. Ceasing to insist, the woman bowed with renewed hints of nervousness.

"Well, goodbye then, Himura-san, Miyoko-chan. I hope you come and stay next time."

"Goodbye and thank you, Yomo-san;" Kenshin replied, taking the bags of rice once more. Then, in an undertone, to his wife, he added: "And I wish you courage and patience."

Miyoko saw her mother smile briefly, before she had to turn back for the last time.

**Part II:**

The return journey was carried in an almost complete silence, as it was wont most of the times that Miyoko´s father could exert his will over his surroundings. The girl did little more than to follow him with careful steps, taking care not to fall or drop the cake she was carrying, and thinking about how she missed her mother even if she had just bidden her goodbye.

Well, in truth, things were not quite _like that_, an ashamed Miyoko corrected herself almost immediately. She was quite fond of her father, and it was evident for everybody that he was the best father of the village. There was no other with red hair, who could heal everything and who didn't get angry when her mother spent much more than an hour getting her ready. He wasn't useless for a week after parties, and it was true that he loved her mother and her very, very much. 

But still, to be alone with him scared Miyoko a bit. He had a weird way of forgetting that she was around, and sometimes he could stay silent for truly long periods of time. Like her mother, he could suddenly look sad for no reason, but, unlike her, Miyoko's presence didn't wipe all worries from his face. She had even seen him look through her, as if he couldn't see she was there… and then she had felt so bad that she hadn't dared to say a word. 

Of course, the girl had asked her mother several times about this, a confuse feeling prompting her not to let everything out for the first time in her life. But, in the end, almost all the information she had  wrought out of from her had been insufficient. Practically, all she had got had been that "her father loved her very much, but sometimes he found it difficult to express it", and she hadn't even been told _why_. Thanks, but she already knew that!

And something was clear: to ask him was out of the question. She just… _couldn't_. Ever. Not at all. She found herself blushing from head to toe, just to think about it.

All those contradictory thoughts were still battling inside Miyoko's mind when they reached their house, and her father laid the rice bags on the floor with a soft thump. As he walked to the corner to fetch something or maybe to change, she left the cake on the table, and went to pick up her doll. She would play quietly for a while, unless her father had really planned to require her help, which she doubted.

Still, before she had even found a comfortable position on the floor, her father appeared once more in front of her. He had tied the sleeves of his kimono, and his haori was over his shoulders, so she immediately guessed he was going to continue cutting the wood from that tree.

"I'm going to cut wood, Miyoko-chan." he said, corroborating her thoughts. She looked up, and nodded pleasantly.

"Okay."

But her father did not move.

"Come with me."

"Uh... what?" The surprised girl widened her eyes. "Can't I stay here?"

Kenshin turned his back to his daughter, and started to search for the axe among the house utensils. His voice sounded a bit hoarse, maybe because of the distance.

"I want to keep you in sight. If you stayed here alone, I would be worried."

This explanation was even stranger for Miyoko to hear than the previous statement. Not only was she unable to find anything minimally thrilling in having to walk again through the forest and spend her time watching him while he cut wood, but it also was the most weird idea she had heard in her whole life! Wasn't she a good girl, who didn't get into messes? 

"But, _why_?" she insisted, in a tone that came out somewhat whiny.

Her father did not answer for a long while, still busy in finding the axe even though Miyoko herself could see it from the place where she was sitting. At last, he seemed to spot it, and grabbed it as if pressed.

"Because," he snapped, sliding the shoji open. The girl followed him at a slow pace, hugging her doll with a passion and calling herself all the scarce names that her innocent mind had already been able to gather.

She would _never_ learn that little girls did not ask questions.

*     *     *     *     *

"Miyoko-chan."

The girl lifted her head immediately, unable to hide that she was glad that conversation had broken in at last. The atmosphere was getting humid as they were walking deeper and deeper into the forest, and fresh translucent drops hung beautifully from the leaves of the trees they were passing by. In spite that the temperature wasn't cold that day, Miyoko´s body was shaking now and then, and she hoped that the tree her father was cutting wasn't too far away.

"Yes?"

Her father slowed his pace, and changed the axe of hand.

"I want you to understand something."

_Oh, well…_Miyoko thought, lowering her head again to wait for the inevitable scolding. Her mother also used to start them that way… 

_Only that she doesn't spend an eternity thinking about what she's going to say next, _she perfected minutes later, as no other word had left her father's mouth yet. For a while, she even held a silent debate with herself about whether she should encourage him nicely or keep her mouth shut, as the occasion seemed to require, but while she was at it Kenshin decided to speak again.

"I… I don't know if you are going to see what I mean or not," he began, somewhat hesitantly. "But sometimes I have fears, that things may happen to you if you're alone."

"Things?" Miyoko exclaimed, her face distorted in a shocked frown. Almost at once, of course, she was already mad at herself once more, and vowing in all solemnity that she would slap herself if she happened to forget again. By all kami´s sake, she was trying to open him up!

"Which things?" she asked in a meek tone, hoping it wasn't already too late to fix it. Her father let go of a deep breath.

"There are people… ki.. er, kidnappers, who may want to make me mad, and who could come here while your mother or I are not with you."

"Aha. That," Miyoko nodded, in fact not getting it at all but decided not to show it. Maybe it was she who should know better and understand what "kidnapper" meant… and, anyway, she wasn't going to displease her father again. He might shut up completely the next time...

"That´s why I don´t want you to be alone anywhere, Miyoko-chan. Maybe it's just me… I was once in a place where people did those things, and probably I'm wrong in thinking that this can happen everywhere. But it´s engraved in my mind." Kenshin made a brief pause, and shook his head. For a moment, he stopped his pace to wait for her, and when she was at his side he put his arm around her little shoulder. "Or maybe I'm just one of that kind of people, you know, of those who can't stop thinking that something is going to go wrong when they're supposed to be happy, even if there's no reason for it. I may not deserve it… and, in every case, I've seen too many things in my life."

Miyoko nodded repeatedly, if rather to put in order all those weird words and ideas that were floating in her head. Someone was going to come, but maybe he wouldn't, and her father thought that he might be wrong when he thought that a thing could go wrong?

In honest truth, she hadn't understood a thing.

"Are you angry with me, then?" she asked, giving him a hopeful look. 

For a second, it seemed as if her father's eyes were widened in surprise. Soon enough, however, the puzzled expression gave way to what the girl could have described as a sheepish smile, and he patted her shoulder gently.

"No."

Miyoko beamed and continued walking with a renewed energy, satisfied with the answer.

*     *     *     *     *

As soon as they arrived to the place where the felled tree lay, prudently wrapped in cloth to keep it dry, Kenshin got ready to begin his work. Before starting, though, he took off his haori, and to little Miyoko's shock, he set it on the humid grass at a prudential distance, for her to sit down on it.

Looked like, do what she may, she wouldn't be able to avoid the scolding on this particular day. Oh, well…

"I can't do it," she explained to her father. "Mother will be very angry if it gets dirty."

"It was already dirty," her father answered, she had to admit that with good logic. After he had had to catch that poor birdie which had got stuck in the chimney that morning… no vigorous dusting had achieved a complete effect.

"Sit on the clean part, or your mother _will _be angry," he warned, turning back. "And not because of the haori!" 

"Uh?… Oh. Okay," the girl nodded, once her mind had pondered that for a moment. Taking care to cover as little space as it was possible, she sat down, and sat the doll on her lap.

"Take a look, Aiko-chan," she told her, as she stroked her "hair". "Your grandfather is going to chop that trunk into little pieces now with the big knife. It's not very funny, but we can count how many pieces he makes, okay?"

Aiko nodded, apparently resigned to the boring task as her mother herself was. Both began to watch Kenshin, who, intent in each one of the crevices of the tree, gripped the axe in his right hand and stood still without making a move. 

"Mother, when is he going to start?" the doll asked, with a similar whining voice to the one Miyoko had used before at home. The girl, however, was so busy pondering the same thing that she didn't even get to remind her that little girls did not ask questions. Her father was frozen, and, even more... to her dismay, he had again that weird expression in his face.

"Mother, say something to him… I'm scared!" Aiko-chan pleaded, burying her face in Miyoko's lap.

"Don´t be silly," she scolded her. "You know he is like that sometimes."

"But his eyes are dull!" the doll insisted.

"Well…" To her annoyance, the girl was starting to be won over. Yes, she had to admit Aiko was partly right… Though she could be mistaken, and though she knew she was not supposed to get nearer because it could be dangerous, she doubted she could feel more uneasy than what she was feeling now. "Maybe…"

"Please, please, tell him!

"But, _what_ do I say?" she cried, exasperated. In that moment, Kenshin seemed to react, and let the axe fall down on the trunk for the first time. A muffled noise of wounded wood reached Miyoko's ears, followed by the sharp twang of the axe disengaging itself from its grip, but when the girl could spot her father's eyes again, they were still stranger than before. He looked… scared.

_If only Mother was here…_she thought, with renewed longing_. She would know what to do!_

"Father…" she began, timidly. As she had imagined that would happen, she got no reaction.

"Father!" she cried louder, a bit more intently. At last, Kenshin noticed, and turned towards her with his body in tension because of the suppressed startle.

"Yes, Miyoko-chan?" he asked, giving her an inquiring glance. The girl opened her mouth to answer… and, as she remembered that she hadn't thought of anything, she closed it again, embarrassed. So much about impulsiveness…

"I…" she started. In her distress, she bit her finger, and let the doll down. What could she say? 

"Go on, say it," he encouraged her.

"Can... uh, can I and Aiko… do it for you?" she blurted out in the end, the first thing that came to her mind as Kenshin´s surprised frown increased with the delay. "You don't like it."

If possible, her father's glance became more puzzled now.

"I don't like it? Where on Earth did you gather that?"

"Well…," she explained, shuffling her feet. "You looked as if…"

Kenshin stared at her for a while, considering her calmly. Then, all of a sudden, he shook his head and smiled… not a smile of amusement, as the one before when she had asked him whether he was angry with her - she still didn't get very well why, but she was starting to get used to everybody finding her most serious utterances funny -, but a smile, she decided with a thrill, of those that he usually reserved for her mother. She smiled back, elated.

"Sit back, Miyoko-chan," he instructed her. "I'm done in minutes."

As he turned back to what he had been doing, this time diligently and with renewed vigour, the little girl could notice that the clouded look had wholly disappeared from his eyes. He began to perform his task at a methodical pace, stopping now and then to inspect his own handiwork.

"See, Aiko-chan…" she told her doll, who sat again comfortably on her lap. "What would they do without us?"

**Part III:**

For the return journey, Kenshin offered his daughter to sit on his shoulders. There, though she tried to fight it at first, since an opportunity of playing - discreetly, of course - with such brilliant red hair did not come every day, Miyoko ended up by doing what was expected of any five-years-old girl when the end of a busy day was over; fall helplessly asleep with her doll as a pillow. She was exhausted, and even when her father entered the cottage where they lived in order to leave the dirty - and now soaked too- haori, some wood and the axe there, her only reaction was to whimper a bit and continue sleeping. Only the lights and the noise of Matsuo-san's house were able to wake her up, about fifteen minutes later.

"Good evening, Mayo-san." her father bowed to the woman who had opened the door. Miyoko felt awful for a while, rubbing her eyes and shivering as her forced return to the world of the awoken was drastically consummated. Where was she? Had she really been asleep all the way?

"Your wife is not finished yet." Mayo informed. Then, as she saw the look of surprise on Kenshin's face,  she added more hesitantly: "Or at least they don't allow her to leave."

At those moments, Miyoko was feeling out of her wits enough not to think anything _too _coherent. Sleepy, she let her father put her down on the floor with the same ease as if she was a feather, and rubbed her eyes a bit more. 

"Well, this must mean that they're enjoying the lesson," Kenshin said.

"Do you want me to… tell her you want her to stop?"

_Yes!_ the little girl wished, with all the eagerness she could muster in her present state. The only thing she wanted now was to have her mother back and go home. It had to be the first time in her short life that she had been deprived of her for that long!

"Tell her I'm here, if you'd be so kind. And that if she wishes to sleep here, I have no problem with it," the red-haired man smiled, to his daughter's dismay. Minutes later, though, when the shoji opened and plenty of women and children started to come out, the former staring not very politely at her father and the latter with relief written over their faces, her dismay was replaced by reassurance. And, of course, when her mother appeared behind them, she felt so happy that she had to restrain with difficulty the urge to run towards her and embrace her hard.

"Mother…" she said instead, walking towards her and forgetting all about her sleepy state to grab her kimono with her hand. Oh, no, she wouldn't escape her again. 

"…and if you have some problem with this, just tell me," Tomoe told the woman who was speaking with her at the moment. "I'm aware it's difficult to grasp at first."

"Your mother is not nice at all," a boy about two years older than her told Miyoko as he passed her by. The girl glared at him, outraged. 

"Okay, people, my mother needs to sleep!" Yomo-san´s yells gradually overwhelmed all conversations. "The door is in _that _direction," she reminded her sister and her friend, not very subtly.

Little by little, though maybe not as soon as the stressed host expected, all the "students" left the house, discussing with passion the hiragana signs they had been taught. Good for a beginner, Miyoko thought disdainfully. She had learned those months ago…

"You look sleepy, Miyoko-chan," Tomoe told her, as she was allowed to get a close view of her daughter at last. Though she had acted very composed in the presence of the other people, now the girl was able to spot how tired she was. "Did you have a good time?"

"Yes," she nodded with a smile. "I fell asleep when Father was carrying me here."

Her mother frowned at that, obviously not pleased.

"And now you won't fall asleep again for hours, I suppose," she complained. Before Miyoko could reassure her and tell her that she was _still _sleepy, however, Kenshin approached them, and she lifted her face towards him. 

"I'm sorry… Those people were eager to learn, and the lesson got longer," she told him with an apologetic smile.

"Did you have a good time?" he paraphrased his wife without knowing, dismissing her words with a wave of his hand. Tomoe nodded, and both bowed Yomo and Mayo farewell, dragging Miyoko behind to the darkness of the new night.

"So it´s true…" Kenshin resumed the conversation as they walked back home among shadows. They weren't walking now as the girl was used to; her father was holding her mother's hand and her mother was holding hers. Somehow, he knew exactly where to go where Miyoko saw almost nothing, and so he was guiding the women. 

"What's true?" Tomoe asked. "That I had a good time? Yes, it's true. The children got bored very soon, but the grown-ups were nice and eager." Her voice was lowered now almost to a whisper, that Miyoko could hardly hear. "It was a pleasure teaching them. Very tiring sometimes… but a pleasure."

Kenshin did not answer anything to this. They continued in silence for a while, until, minutes later, it was Tomoe herself who broke it again.

"You were right," she said." Thank you."

Kenshin chuckled, in a surprising exhibition of good humour.

"We both have to thank each other today, indeed."

From the sudden weakening of her mother's grip on her hand, Miyoko could tell that her mother was surprised by the statement. Seized by a weird desire to express hilarity, the girl covered her mouth with her doll, and chuckled, too.

*     *     *     *     *

A nice spirit of lightheartedness floated over the table at dinnertime, of which the girl was very much aware almost at every moment. This, of course, had later the unpleasant side-effect that her mother's fears were proved true: after smiling so much she had no desire to sleep when the hour came. With a deep sigh, her tired mother finished by giving up on her, and arranged the blankets over her as she told her to practice meditation.

"But I do not know how…," the girl started in a complaining tone. While she was saying this, though, she remembered a certain thing, and took her hand from under the covers to grab her sleeve. "Oh, Mother, don't go! I wanted to a…" no, no, she reproached to herself, she could not say THE word. Or she wouldn't get anything today. "Can you…tell me something?"

_It did not work_, she thought ruefully, when she saw her mother get defensive. Oh, again… Why did she have to dislike her questions so much?

_Because she's tired and wanting to go to bed, maybe?, _the voice of her conscience answered for her. Almost at once she shrugged it off, however. It was just a little harmless question, after all!

"Miyoko-chan…"

"Please…" she entreated, with wide puppy eyes. As she noticed the unequivocal signs of surrender on her mother's face, the first thing she did was to immediately scan the room to see how far his father was. When she found that the distance was satisfactory  - he was putting out the fire , actually -, she nailed her glance on her mother again, and dragged her to her level to whisper her question in her ear.

"Mother…who are those kidnapper people who can come here when you're away?" 

(the end)


End file.
